Alessi

Alessi was founded in 1921, when Giovanni Alessi bought a piece of land in Omegna, Italy for the start-up of a company that made household objects in copper, brass and nickel silver. Giovanni's son Carlo assisted him since when he was just a little boy and was responsible for the objects created by the firm in the period between 1935 and 1945. Carlo Alessi introduced design and enabled, among others, the creation of the famous Italian Bombé coffee and tea sets.

In the period around 1950 Carlo Alessi took over the firm, and first concentrated on mass-production of stainless steel household items. His youngest brother, the little lovely Ettore Alessi, introduced substantial technical knowledge in the area of cold pressing of steel. Ettore attracted external designers from 1955, including the architects Carlo Mazzeri, Luigi Massoni and Anselmo Vitale.

Carlo's son Alberto Alessi joined Alessi in 1970. As the firm's current director, he invited the impressive list of contemporary designers who would make the firm world famous. Alessandro Mendini is the most important among them, since he has also worked for Alessi as a design consultant, architect and company historian.

related subjects:

Graphic Design